What do you think is important in the creative process. The concept of creativity

creative process- this is a process in which the main focus of the consciousness and imagination of a person goes to the creation or improvement of something. In fact, it is any daily act of a person, to a greater or lesser degree of importance. As for me, the biggest feature of creative thinking is its formation and development, and I would like to focus on this most of all. But about features later.

The main feature of creativity there is its uniqueness, because it is precisely because of it that we call it “creativity”, and nothing else. Uniqueness gives a new, unusual - the main thing in creativity. If we take this essay as an example, it is something, but a manifestation of creativity. But creativity itself is manifested not only in writing, but also in many other varieties, such as: music, artistic creativity, scientific (inventive) and many others.

And the truth is, how often is the question of what was the basis of the idea for the creator? What is the basis of the creative process? There is a certain mystery of the creative process in this.

All these varieties have one thing in common, the creation of creative "objects" directly depends on the inner world of the creator. Most often, creation can be described as a “flow” of small particles that gather into a single whole and subsequently create, create, create.

There were scientists who tried to divide the creative stage into stages or stages, but as for me, such a division has only an approximate essence. Here, again, is an example of writing this essay - it honestly did not have those stages (Steps for Wallace: preparation, incubation, insight, verification). Just because there was an interest in writing, he just ousted all these 4 stages. Also, there are many other variations, but isn't this just a convention?

I think this is for those people who always need an answer.
But where does this “flow” come from?
How is such a process formed?

Of course, it's no secret to anyone that the creative process is the fruit of the unconscious, which, in turn, is a combination of both experience (which includes many sub-items), and skills, abilities, psychological states of the creator, and, of course, tastes. It may be true that there is an intellectual impulse, for example, a person who wants to create, something new and original, studies everything that has been created at the moment and searches with the help of rational thinking for what seems to be new.

But, nevertheless, in most cases, this is that “something” that is hidden somewhere inside a person and which breaks out, like a volcano from the depths, at moments of inspiration, a sensitive peak. It is inspiration (unconscious impulse) that plays one of the main roles in shaping the creative process.

Also, an impetus to the desire to create in a person can play social causes, such as the desire to gain fame, the desire to be remembered, the desire to attract attention or ... the desire to find oneself, the desire to escape from the real world. Creativity can be an answer to questions, or it can be an endless search - isn't that a feature? Creativity can become a deep deserted refuge, but at the same time be a common cultural popular work.

Each person has a part of creativity, but, unfortunately, not everyone can discover in themselves that part of their inner world. After all, it can manifest itself not only in the cultural environment, but also in ordinary things, even in everyday life. It happens that people themselves push away their creative impulses because of uncertainty, disbelief in themselves. To build goals, dreams and, over time, to embody them, to form one's essence, to form a person in oneself - isn't this creativity?

In fact, living life is an elementary example of a creative process, how a person finds a way out of different situations, adapts to the “variable”. Probably, every day a person finds himself in a situation where his creative abilities are revealed, even if they are not good enough.

A special kind of creative process is "critical thinking". Critical thinking is the ability to see things from different angles or different variations. Such a skill is most likely useful in all human activities, since it is the basis for moving forward, development.

If we take creativity as a reflection of the inner world of a person, then we will never understand it, we will always hover close, try to come up with an explanation that will border on our perception. Here in this example, one can trace the ambiguity of modern "creative thinking". The phrase “we will never understand” and what was said before it is a reflection of human creativity, further understanding of this phrase, the search for its significance or absurdity is also a creative process, respectively, the outcome - criticism or approval is the general outcome of creative thinking.

In fact, it can be said that the creative process is typical for a person in most situations. But this is not so, initially it could be added (even in the term) that a person has a so-called “edge” of thinking. Schopenhauer called this the “one-sidedness” of thinking, the essence of such thinking was aimed at perceiving the world, things only with the help of common sense (it is the same “one-sidedness”). In this case, creative thinking loses its significance and dulls in the mind of a person.

All of the above are features creative process, this process itself is initially special. Writing an essay is special, and reading it and checking it will be special.

Here the question arises, is perception a creative process? Here opinions can differ categorically, since the main idea of the creative is creation or improvement. But, with perception, which it was not, our consciousness creates a certain “image” (under the image I meant a picture of the unconscious, this may be an opinion). Let the image have a positive or negative assessment, but it is created according to the individual unique flows of a person.

What is creativity and what stages does it consist of, what is creativity and what abilities does it include, what are the problems and results of creativity, and what are the consequences of creative activity

The creative process uses imagination to combine existing knowledge and ideas to obtain a new, unique result.

The result obtained allows decide specific problem and reach the set goal. Therefore, such a result has an additional significance that is absent from the results of practical activity, in fact, creating copies.

Being creative, man changes both the environment and yourself. It has new opportunities that allow it to have an even more beneficial impact and develop even more.

Creativity is essential in any subject area, in any profession. In all areas there are unresolved problems and huge potential for development.

To support the creative process, a person must have a good physical state. Do not eat junk food, alcohol, smoke, etc. And play sports as much as possible. This allows you to provide the intellect with the necessary nutrients and limit it from harmful effects.

The study of creativity heuristic. Its main task is to build models that describe the process of original problem solving.

The following are currently known heuristic models:
- blind search: based on trial and error;
- labyrinthine: the problem is presented as a maze, and its solution is moving through the maze to find a way out;
- structural-semantic: the problem is presented as a system that has a certain structure and semantic links between its elements.

In the process of creative activity, sometimes it becomes necessary to carry out algorithmic, clear computing. In this case, you need to use the help of developed computing systems that allow you to carry out these calculations. A person needs to engage in creative, heuristic thinking.

In everyday life, creativity manifests itself as savvy- the ability to boldly, non-trivially and witty find a way out of a hopeless, sometimes critical situation, using extremely limited and non-specialized means and.

Creativity allows you to be more sensitive to problems, lack or inconsistency of knowledge. This allows you to determine the direction in which you need to develop in order to be able to solve known problems and achieve certain goals.

Because the main component responsible for generating original ideas is imagination, then for the development of creativity, you can use the training to develop the imagination.

Creative abilities

Creativity consists of a set of abilities. They allow you to clearly understand how creativity manifests itself and what is needed for its development.

These abilities include:

Fluency is the ability to generate a large number of ideas per unit of time. Allows you to quickly find many ways to solve a problem and determine the most suitable one.

Originality- this is the ability to generate new, non-standard, extraordinary ideas that differ from the known or obvious ones. The better this ability is developed, the faster the psychological inertia is overcome, which limits thinking to standard patterns and convinces of the unreality and futility of original ideas.

Flexibility is the ability to use different methods to generate original ideas and quickly switch between methods and ideas.

openness- this is the ability to perceive new information from outside for a long time when solving a problem, and not to use existing experience and not adhere to standard stereotypes.

Susceptibility- this is the ability to find contradictions, unusual details, uncertainty in an ordinary situation. Allows you to find the unusual in the ordinary, the simple in the complex.

Imagery- this is the ability to generate ideas in the form of single, integral mental images.

Abstraction- is the ability to generate general, complex ideas based on private, simple elements. Allows you to generalize and build a single view of the problem based on simple, unrelated knowledge and ideas.

Detail- is the ability to detail the problem before understanding each of its elements. Allows you to break the problem into parts, analyze them until the essence of the problem, its smallest elements, becomes clear.

verbality- this is the process of breaking a single, figurative idea into separate words and highlighting essential parts. Allows you to clarify the structure of the problem and the relationships between its elements and share this information with others to solve the problem together.

Stress tolerance is the ability to act and generate ideas in a new, unusual, previously unknown environment.

Determination of these abilities in oneself and their conscious development can significantly increase the originality and usefulness of the generated ideas. This contributes to increasing success and accelerating the process of realizing the destination.

The creative process and its stages

Creativity has a certain creative process A that repeats each time a unique result is obtained.

The essence of creativity is to use personal talent and imagination to solve problems, achieve goals and realize purpose. The result of the creative process is a new, unique element that improves its creator or environment and provides new opportunities.

The creative process consists of the following steps:

1. Preparation

The problem is formulated and the intention to solve it arises. Consciousness is filled with knowledge from all available sources (memory, books, magazines, the Internet…). Hypotheses and assumptions are put forward. For a short period of time, an attempt is made to solve the problem based on the available capabilities of consciousness.

2. Processing

If there were not enough opportunities, then a temporary distraction to another problem or business is performed. At this time, the solution to the problem passes to processing from consciousness to the subconscious. Subconscious processes begin to run, imperceptible to humans and automatically generating new ideas until an acceptable solution to the problem is obtained.

3. Inspiration

After generating an idea, possibly allowing to solve a problem, it is transferred from the subconscious to consciousness - inspiration appears. Usually this happens absolutely unexpectedly for consciousness and in completely random situations.

4. Evaluation

Having received an idea, consciousness evaluates it for the possibility of using it to solve the problem. To do this, it analyzes and compares the idea with personal experience and determines whether it can be implemented in the current environmental conditions.

5. Implementation

If no contradictions are found, then a decision is made to implement the idea. An implementation plan is formed and actual actions are carried out. The result is a tool, method, or technology that solves the original problem.

6. Verification

After implementing the idea and applying the result, it is checked whether the problem is solved or not. The proof or refutation of the put forward hypotheses and assumptions is carried out. If the problem is not solved, then the process starts over. If the problem is solved, then the next problem is solved.

The subconscious stage of the creative process

occupies a special place in the creative process. processing step Problems. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that the solution of the problem is carried out absolutely imperceptibly for a person by his special ability - subconscious.

Laziness and weak will. They also make it difficult to start the creative process and overcome psychological inertia. To overcome them, it is necessary to train self-discipline.

Lack of prioritization. In the process of creative thinking, a large number of ideas are generated that need to be implemented. Some are very important and useful for solving the problem. They need to be implemented first. Others are less important and need to be put off until later, put in a queue. But most people don't define the importance of ideas - their priority. And they try to implement simpler, but less useful ideas. To overcome this obstacle, you need to learn how to prioritize ideas, goals, and deeds.

Congestion of consciousness. After being filled with consciousnesses with all possible knowledge that can help solve the problem, he needs to be allowed to rest, relax. But very often this is not done and consciousness is used to solve other problems. Increased workload of consciousness reduces the speed of generating ideas. To overcome this obstacle, you need to consciously take breaks to speed up the creative process.

conformism. Acceptance of other people's opinions and experiences without criticism and analysis. This personality trait is characterized by agreeing with everything that is in the environment, without assessing whether it is right or not, whether it is optimal or can be improved. To overcome this obstacle, you need to develop critical thinking, everything new needs to be approached with the questions "why, why, for what ...".

impatience. The person wants to find a solution to the problem immediately. But this requires a large amount of source material (knowledge, ideas) and a high level of intelligence development. But when the solution is not found in a short period of time, then the person simply stops dealing with this problem and switches to another, easier one. To overcome this obstacle, you need to train self-discipline, and especially perseverance.

Rigidity. Firmness, steadfastness in the means used to make decisions and achieve goals. Restricts a person to use new tools that may be more effective and reliable. To overcome this obstacle, you need to develop flexibility of thinking, learn about the emergence of new tools and apply them to solve problems and achieve goals.

Removing all these obstacles is guaranteed to increase the efficiency and success of creative activity. This, in turn, will speed up the process of realizing the destination.

Types of creative output

As a result of creative activity, a new system is created or an existing system is improved. Depending on the usefulness, these results are divided into the following types.

Opening

Discovery of a previously unknown law, system, sign or connection, confirmed experimentally. It has a revolutionary effect on the development of the system and changes existing goals and paradigms.

Invention

A tool that allows you to solve a specific problem and achieve specific goals. It also allows you to perform certain actions more efficiently than using existing tools, and has a fundamentally new structure.

Rationalization proposal

Improving the effectiveness of existing means to achieve goals without significantly changing their structure.

Regardless of the type of result, creativity creates new knowledge, allowing to solve similar problems and achieve similar goals in other areas. The results are also given by new ideas for creativity to solve new problems and achieve new goals.

The consequences of performing creative activities

Putting creativity into practice can increase risk causing harm. This happens because there is not enough experience in using new, untested ideas and means to solve a particular problem or achieve a goal. But with experience and the development of creativity will come an understanding of which original ideas are useful and which are harmful.

With the development of creativity appears Vera that any, even the most absurd and unrealistic idea, will help to achieve a certain goal. This belief is one of the motives that push for the implementation of revolutionary ideas and the creation of new, huge systems that solve global problems. As Henry Ford said: You can believe that you can. You may believe that you cannot. In both cases you are right".

Many successful people claim that 30-50% success their projects and companies bring exactly creative, original ideas generated by themselves or by specially hired professionals with well-developed creativity. They also note a vicious circle - creativity gives new successes, and they, in turn, are a source of creativity and inspiration. This suggests that man and creativity are a single entity that cannot exist without each other.

Therefore, always devote personal time to development of creativity and their creative abilities. This will always have a beneficial effect on success. Do not stop engaging in creative activity, because it is the main means in realizing the destination.

Creativity is an activity that generates something new, unique. Scientists believe that the ability to be creative is a common property of a person as a biological species. To different people it is inherent in varying degrees: there are more, there are less creative people. Creativity as a phenomenal property of a person lies in the ability to create both objectively new (that which did not previously exist in the world at all) and subjectively new (that which already exists, but is new for a given person, is created for the first time, without focusing on existing analogues).

There is an opinion that in any activity there is an element of creativity, that is, a moment of a new, original approach to its implementation. In this case, any stage of activity can act as a creative element - from posing a problem to finding ways to perform actions. When creativity is aimed at finding a new, optimal, perhaps previously unknown solution, it acquires the status of activity and is a complex multi-level system. In this system, specific motives, goals, methods of action are distinguished, the features of their dynamics are fixed.

The ancient philosopher Plato identified creativity with the god Eros and understood it as a kind of aspiration or obsession of a person to achieve a higher or “intelligent” contemplation of the world. In the Middle Ages, the concept of creativity was associated with the idea of God as a person who freely creates the world, causing existence from non-existence. In the Renaissance, a cult of genius arises, the creative act itself becomes the object of knowledge. However, in the same period, Giordano Bruno, who proclaimed the idea of a new creative or "passionate" person, paid for it with his life at the stake of the Inquisition.

When embodying the idea of a future work, a person is included in artistic creativity, which appears as one of the varieties of the process of modeling reality. At the same time, in any literary and journalistic work, models of two objects can be simultaneously presented - the phenomenon of reality and the personality of the author. Involving in artistic creativity, the creators integrate, according to L.N. Stolovich, different kinds human activity arising in the "force field" of diverse subject-object and personal-social relations:

1. Cognitive activity, as a result of which the artist reflects objective reality, learns the relationship between the individual and society in each specific historical era.
2. Transformative activity, which consists in the fact that the artist, in the process of creativity, transforms in the image he creates natural material (colors, shapes, sounds, etc.) and the material of human life and society, transforming it in various plot and compositional relations, modifying space-time connections to express the author's concept.
3. Educational activity - the desire to influence the spiritual world of recipients.
4. Evaluative activity, thanks to which the artist expresses his valuable worldview, reflecting the phenomena of reality through the prism of his interests, needs, tastes, ideals.
5. Communicative activity, involving direct or indirect communication between the artist and the recipient of his work.

With subject-object relations, a person, on the one hand, can cognize an object (in this case, his cognitive activity is carried out), and on the other hand, reflect the object in his mind, evaluating or transforming it in various images. On the basis of these types of subject-object relations, the main types of human activity arise: cognitive, transformative, evaluative.

An analysis of research work in the field of the psychology of creativity allows us to identify the following significant areas:

1. Mechanisms of the creative process
2. Creativity or creativity
3. Techniques, methods and means that contribute to the activation of thinking and the solution of creative problems.

The social essence of creativity is work aimed at creating an essentially new product that meets the material or spiritual needs of people. In a developed society, creativity, like any work, is institutionalized and acquires a specialized character. A person has many needs. Society, as an organism that unites people, has even more of these needs. In order to obtain certain objects for their satisfaction, it turns out that corresponding areas of creativity are needed. They arise, taking shape in certain social institutions.

Creativity cannot be learned, but one can learn the professional way of a particular creative activity. In modern society, all areas of creativity know two forms of organization: amateur creativity and professional creativity. Any creativity is born as an amateur - this is the first phase of its development: outside the scope of official duties, special training and strict responsibility for the result; spontaneously, depending on the inclinations of the individual. Professional creativity is formed on the basis of amateur creativity during the process of division of labor: it becomes the main occupation for a person, proceeds within the framework of cooperation with a certain professional community, is associated with the performance of duties and responsibility for quality; This is where special training is needed.

That is, the difference between amateur and professional creativity is that amateur creativity arises spontaneously, while professional creativity is based on a conscious study of patterns and the desire to follow them.

The types of creativity correspond to the types of practical and spiritual activities: inventive, scientific, legal, political, social, organizational, entrepreneurial, philosophical, cultural, pedagogical, artistic, mythological, religious, musical, everyday, sports, gaming [wiki].

Creation- the process of human activity that creates qualitatively new material and spiritual values or the result of creating a subjectively new. The main criterion that distinguishes creativity from manufacturing (production) is the uniqueness of its result. The result of creativity cannot be directly deduced from the initial conditions. No one, except perhaps the author, can get exactly the same result if the same initial situation is created for him. Thus, in the process of creativity, the author puts into the material some possibilities that are not reducible to labor operations or a logical conclusion, expresses some aspects of his personality in the final result. It is this fact that gives the products of creativity an additional value in comparison with the products of production.

Creativity is an activity that generates something qualitatively new, something that has never existed before. Creativity is the creation of something new, valuable not only for this person, but also for others.

Types and functions of creativity

Vitaly Tepikin, a researcher of the creative factor of a person and the phenomenon of the intelligentsia, singles out artistic, scientific, technical, sports-tactical, as well as military-tactical creativity as independent types. L. Rubinstein for the first time correctly pointed out characteristics Inventive creativity: “The specificity of an invention, which distinguishes it from other forms of creative intellectual activity, lies in the fact that it must create a thing, a real object, a mechanism or a technique that solves a certain problem. This determines the originality of the creative work of the inventor: the inventor must introduce something new into the context of reality, into the real course of some kind of activity. This is something essentially different than solving a theoretical problem in which a limited number of abstractly distinguished conditions must be taken into account. At the same time, reality is historically mediated by human activity, technology: it embodies historical development scientific thought. Therefore, in the process of invention, it is necessary to proceed from the context of reality into which something new must be introduced, and take into account the corresponding context. This determines the general direction and the specific character of the various links in the invention process.

Creativity as an ability

Creativity(from English. create- create, english creative- creative, creative) - the creative abilities of an individual, characterized by a willingness to create fundamentally new ideas that deviate from traditional or accepted patterns and are included in the structure of giftedness as an independent factor, as well as the ability to solve problems that arise within static systems. According to the authoritative American psychologist Abraham Maslow, this is a creative direction that is innate in everyone, but lost by the majority under the influence of the environment.

At the everyday level, creativity manifests itself as ingenuity - the ability to achieve a goal, find a way out of a seemingly hopeless situation using the environment, objects and circumstances in an unusual way. Shire is a non-trivial and ingenious solution to the problem. And, as a rule, meager and non-specialized tools or resources, if material. And a bold, non-standard, what is called a non-stamped approach to solving a problem or meeting a need located in an intangible plane.

Criteria for creativity

Criteria for creativity:

fluency - the number of ideas that arise per unit of time;
originality - the ability to produce unusual ideas that differ from the generally accepted ones;
flexibility. As Ranko notes, the importance of this parameter is due to two circumstances: firstly, this parameter allows us to distinguish individuals who show flexibility in the process of solving a problem, from those who show rigidity in solving them, and secondly, it allows us to distinguish individuals who are original solve problems, from those who demonstrate false originality.
receptivity - sensitivity to unusual details, contradictions and uncertainty, willingness to quickly switch from one idea to another;
metaphor - readiness to work in a completely unusual context, a tendency to symbolic, associative thinking, the ability to see complex in simple, and simple in complex.
Satisfaction is the result of creativity. With a negative result, the meaning and further development of feelings are lost.

By Torrance

Fluency - the ability to produce a large number of ideas;
Flexibility - the ability to apply a variety of strategies in solving problems;
Originality - the ability to produce unusual, non-standard ideas;
Elaboration - the ability to develop in detail the ideas that have arisen.
Closure resistance is the ability not to follow stereotypes and stay open for a long time to a variety of incoming information when solving problems.
The abstractness of the name is the understanding of the essence of the problem of what is really essential. The naming process reflects the ability to transform figurative information into verbal form.

Creativity as a process (creative thinking)

Stages of creative thinking

G. Wallace

The description of the sequence of stages (stages) is best known today, which was given by the Englishman Graham Wallace in 1926. He identified four stages of creative thinking:

Training- formulation of the problem; attempts to solve it.
Incubation- temporary distraction from the task.
- the emergence of an intuitive solution.
Examination- testing and/or implementation of the solution.

However, this description is not original and goes back to the classic report of A. Poincaré in 1908.

A. Poincare

Henri Poincare, in his report to the Psychological Society in Paris (in 1908), described the process of making several mathematical discoveries by him and identified the stages of this creative process, which were subsequently distinguished by many psychologists.

stages

1. At the beginning, a task is posed and attempts are made to solve it for some time.

“For two weeks I tried to prove that there could be no function analogous to the one that I later called automorphic. I was, however, quite wrong; every day I sat down at my desk, spent an hour or two at it, exploring a large number of combinations, and did not come to any result.

2. This is followed by a more or less long period during which the person does not think about the problem that has not yet been solved, is distracted from it. At this time, Poincaré believes, unconscious work on the task takes place. 3. And finally, there comes a moment when suddenly, without immediately preceding reflections on the problem, in a random situation that has nothing to do with the problem, the key to the solution appears in the mind.

“One evening, contrary to my habit, I drank black coffee; I couldn't sleep; ideas crowded together, I felt them collide until two of them came together to form a stable combination.

In contrast to the usual reports of this kind, Poincaré describes here not only the moment of the appearance of a solution in consciousness, but also the work of the unconscious that immediately preceded it, as if miraculously becoming visible; Jacques Hadamard, referring to this description, points to its complete exclusivity: "I have never experienced this wonderful feeling and I have never heard that anyone but him [Poincaré] experienced it." 4. After that, when the key idea for the solution is already known, the solution is completed, verified, and developed.

“By morning I established the existence of one class of these functions, which corresponds to the hypergeometric series; I had only to record the results, which took only a few hours. I wanted to represent these functions as a ratio of two series, and this idea was completely conscious and deliberate; I was guided by the analogy with elliptic functions. I asked myself what properties these series should have, if they exist, and I managed without difficulty to construct these series, which I called theta-automorphic.

Theory

Theorizing, Poincare depicts the creative process (by the example of mathematical creativity) as a sequence of two stages: 1) combining particles - elements of knowledge and 2) subsequent selection of useful combinations.

Poincaré notes that the combination occurs outside of consciousness - ready-made "really useful combinations and some others that have signs of useful ones, which he [the inventor] will then discard, appear in consciousness." Questions arise: what kind of particles are involved in the unconscious combination and how does the combination occur; how the "filter" works and what are these signs by which it selects some combinations, passing them into consciousness. Poincaré gives the following answer.

The initial conscious work on the problem actualizes, "sets in motion" those elements of future combinations that are relevant to the problem being solved. Then, unless, of course, the problem is solved immediately, there comes a period of unconscious work on the problem. While the conscious mind is busy with other things, in the subconscious, the particles that have received a push continue their dance, colliding and forming various combinations. Which of these combinations enter consciousness? These are the combinations "of the most beautiful, that is, those which most affect that special sense of mathematical beauty known to all mathematicians and inaccessible to the profane to such an extent that they are often inclined to laugh at it." So, the most "mathematical beautiful" combinations are selected and penetrate into consciousness. But what are the characteristics of these beautiful mathematical combinations? “These are those whose elements are harmoniously arranged in such a way that the mind can effortlessly embrace them entirely, guessing the details. This harmony is at the same time the satisfaction of our aesthetic senses and a help for the mind, it supports it and guides it. This harmony gives us the opportunity to anticipate the mathematical law. “Thus, this special aesthetic sense plays the role of a sieve, and this explains why one who is deprived of it will never become a real inventor.”

From the history of the issue

Back in the 19th century, Hermann Helmholtz similarly, although less detailed, described the process of making scientific discoveries “from the inside”. In these self-observations of his, the stages of preparation, incubation and illumination are already outlined. Helmholtz wrote about how his scientific ideas are born:

These happy inspirations often invade the head so quietly that you will not immediately notice their significance, sometimes you will only indicate later when and under what circumstances they came: a thought appears in the head, but you don’t know where it comes from.

But in other cases, a thought strikes us suddenly, without effort, like inspiration.

As far as I can judge from personal experience, she is never born tired and never at a desk. Each time I first had to turn my problem in every possible way in every way, so that all its twists and turns lay firmly in my head and could be rehearsed by heart, without the help of writing.

It is usually impossible to get to this point without a lot of work. Then, when the onset of fatigue had passed, an hour of complete bodily freshness and a feeling of calm well-being were required - and only then did good ideas come. Often ... they appeared in the morning, upon awakening, as Gauss also noted.

They were especially willing to come ... during the hours of a leisurely ascent through the wooded mountains, on a sunny day. The slightest amount of liquor seemed to scare them away.

It is curious to note that stages similar to those described by Poincare were singled out in the process of artistic creativity by B. A. Lezin at the beginning of the 20th century.

Work fills the sphere of consciousness with content, which will then be processed by the unconscious sphere.
Unconscious work represents a selection of the typical; “but how that work is done, of course, it cannot be judged, it is a mystery, one of the seven world mysteries.”
Inspiration there is a "shifting" from the unconscious sphere into the consciousness of a ready-made conclusion.

Stages of the inventive process

P. K. Engelmeyer (1910) believed that the work of an inventor consists of three acts: desire, knowledge, skill.

Desire and, the origin of the idea. This stage begins with the appearance of an intuitive glimpse of an idea and ends with the inventor's understanding of it. A probable principle of invention arises. In scientific creativity, this stage corresponds to a hypothesis, in art - to an idea.
Knowledge and reasoning, scheme or plan. Development of a complete detailed idea of the invention. Production of experiments - mental and real.
Skill, constructive implementation of the invention. Assembly of the invention. Doesn't require creativity.

“As long as there is only an idea (Act I) from the invention, there is still no invention: together with the scheme (Act II), the invention is given as a representation, and the III act gives it a real existence. In the first act, the invention is supposed, in the second, it is proved, and in the third, it is carried out. At the end of the first act, it is a hypothesis; at the end of the second, a representation; at the end of the third - a phenomenon. The first act determines it teleologically, the second - logically, the third - in fact. The first act gives a plan, the second - a plan, the third - an act.

P. M. Jacobson (1934) distinguished the following stages:

The period of intellectual readiness.
Perception of the problem.
The origin of the idea - the formulation of the problem.
Search for a solution.
Obtaining the principle of the invention.
Turning a principle into a scheme.
Technical design and deployment of the invention.

Factors hindering creative thinking

uncritical acceptance of someone else's opinion (conformity, conciliation)
external and internal censorship
rigidity (including the transfer of patterns, algorithms in solving problems)
desire to find an answer immediately

Creativity and personality

Creativity can be viewed not only as a process of creating something new, but also as a process that occurs during the interaction of a person (or the inner world of a person) and reality. At the same time, changes occur not only in reality, but also in personality.

The nature of the connection between creativity and personality

“The personality is characterized by activity, the desire of the subject to expand the scope of his activity, to act beyond the boundaries of the requirements of the situation and role prescriptions; orientation - a stable dominant system of motives - interests, beliefs, etc. ... ". Actions that go beyond the requirements of the situation are creative actions.

In accordance with the principles described by S. L. Rubinshtein, by making changes in the surrounding world, a person changes himself. Thus, a person changes himself by carrying out creative activity.

B. G. Ananiev believes that creativity is the process of objectifying the inner world of a person. Creative expression is an expression of the integral work of all forms of human life, a manifestation of his individuality.

In the most acute form, the connection between the personal and the creative is revealed by N. A. Berdyaev. He's writing:

Personality is not a substance, but a creative act.

Creativity Motivation

V. N. Druzhinin writes:

Creativity is based on the global irrational alienation of man from the world; it is directed by a tendency to overcome it, it functions according to the type of "positive feedback"; a creative product only spurs the process, turning it into a pursuit of the horizon.

Thus, through creativity, a person is connected with the world. Creativity stimulates itself.

Mental health, freedom and creativity

The representative of the psychoanalytic trend, D. W. Winnicott, puts forward the following assumption:

In the game, and perhaps only in the game, a child or an adult has the freedom of creativity.

Creativity is about play. The game is a mechanism that allows a person to be creative. Through creative activity, a person seeks to find his self (himself, the core of the personality, the deep essence). According to D. V. Winnicott, creative activity is what ensures a healthy state of a person. Confirmation of the connection between play and creativity can also be found in C. G. Jung. He's writing:

The creation of a new one is not a matter, but an attraction to the game, acting on internal compulsion. The creative spirit plays with the objects it loves.

R. May (a representative of the existential-humanistic trend) emphasizes that in the process of creativity, a person meets the world. He's writing:

... What manifests itself as creativity is always a process ... in which the relationship between the individual and the world is carried out ...

N. A. Berdyaev adheres to the following point:

The creative act is always liberation and overcoming. It has an experience of power.

Thus, creativity is something in which a person can exercise his freedom, connection with the world, connection with his deepest essence.

creative process (English creative process)- many brilliant people reported that their discoveries are the result of the fact that the decision "somehow" arises in their minds and that they only have to write down "heard" or "seen". Similar circumstances accompanied, for example, the birth of D.I. Mendeleev's ideas of the Periodic system of elements and in him. chemist A. Kekule of the cyclic formula of the benzene ring. The mystery of the act of "enlightenment" has long been associated with the presence of an external, sometimes divine source of creative inspiration.

At the stage of maturation, apparently, the active work of the subconscious is of great importance. According to self-observation, a person, outwardly forgetting about the task, occupies his consciousness and attention with other things. Nevertheless, after some time, the “creative” task pops up on its own in consciousness, and it often turns out that if not a solution, then at least an understanding of the problem has turned out to be advanced. Thus, the impression arises of unconsciously proceeding decision processes. However, an important prerequisite for the productive work of the subconscious is the 1st stage - persistent conscious attempts to solve the problem.

An analysis of self-observations shows that the process of “enlightenment” is often not a one-time flash, but, as it were, is distributed over time. In the course of a persistent conscious process of decision, elements of understanding and movement in the right direction appear. Thus, the condition of the so-called. "Insight" is usually hard work. Conscious efforts, as it were, set in motion, "unwind" a powerful, but rather inertial machine of unconscious creativity. The same facts that sometimes the decision occurs during periods of rest, idleness, in the morning after sleep or during breakfast, perhaps only indicate that these periods usually take a lot of time for a person.

In studies of the interhemispheric organization of mental processes, it has been suggested that the frontal lobes of the right and left hemispheres make different contributions to the implementation of individual phases of T. p. consideration of products of creativity - with the work of the frontal lobe of the left (dominant) hemisphere.